Creating the opportunity for disabled persons to become self-reliant through integrated farm

Over 1.6 million people in India are registered disabled according to the 2011 Census and approximately 75% of them live in rural areas. Unfortunately, education and training provisions for disabled people are minimal, and concentrated in cities. This means that disabled people in India have little access to appropriate education and training opportunities and often face financial hardship and a lack of work opportunities. Additionally, the disabled people are often ostracized from communities and their families.

The India: Social Development Report 2016 – Disability Rights Perspectives states that there is a ‘disproportionate disadvantage, exclusion, and stigmatization suffered by persons with disabilities’ which is ‘caused by cultural, social and physical barriers' that obstruct their effective participation in social and political life’. We aim to help the disabled people we work with to overcome these barriers, and to give them the skills and confidence needed to achieve their goals.

By providing PwDs with training in agriculture, especially profitable forms of farming, we are both providing them with the skills needed to live independently and generate their own income, whilst also mending social perceptions about disabled people.

Sristi Foundation is a farm and agro-based entrepreneurial residential training academy for the intellectually disabled and marginalized people. The Farm Academy will run a programme every 2 years for a group of 30 new trainees, giving them the opportunity to experience the self-sustained, organic lifestyle of Sristi Village while learning valuable skills from our experts.

The main objective of our project is to empower intellectually disabled and marginalized people so that they attain a state of self-employment.

Through our 2-year training programme, they will have the opportunity to develop their self-confidence and leadership capabilities, while they are trained for farm and agro-based activities (mushroom cultivation, organic gardening, herbal gardening, dairy farming, bee keeping, poultry rearing, goat rearing, vermi compost). This know-how and professional experience will allow them to sustain themselves and their families through self-employment and thus, fulfil their dream of independence. To achieve this goal, we will also facilitate the launch of their own ventures as a group enterprise through guidance and support such as strategic partnership development, loan acquisition and marketing.

1. Creation of job opportunities to end the cycle of poverty and disability.

2. Participants to gain self-confidence and knowledge of their own rights.

3. Every 2 years, train 30 new individuals in the skills of: farm operations, milk animal rearing, setting up and running a profitable plant nursery and seed bank, honey bee farming, mushroom cultivation and the importance of organic and sustainable farming methods.

4. Individuals to gain the skills and expertise to financially support themselves and their family.

5. Overall quality of life will improve for participants and their families.

6. New sources of revenue generated by the launch of self-employment ventures in the local community.

7. Development of positive attitudes towards the disabled in the surrounding communities